Soyuz capsule makes off-course landing after bone-rattling descent
Last Updated: Sunday, April 20, 2008 | 1:36 AM ET
CBC News
Three space travellers, including South Korea's first astronaut, returned to Earth on Saturday aboard a Russian space capsule that landed about 420 kilometres off target in northern Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz craft likely missed its planned landing point because it followed a "ballistic" or very steep trajectory upon re-entry, said NASA commentator John Ira Petty, monitoring the descent from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex.
Ground crew members help U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson after a re-entry that subjected her and two other space travellers to severe G-forces.
(Shamil Zhumatov/Associated Press)
Besides being far off course, the landing, on a return from the International Space Station, was about 20 minutes later than planned.
South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon, American astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko were reported to be in satisfactory condition, Russian mission control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.
Once a recovery helicopter arrived, the crew were examined by medical officials.
Yi, a nanotechnology engineer from Seoul, travelled to the space station on April 10 along with cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, who have replaced Whitson and Malenchenko.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Immigrants the proudest Canadians, poll suggests
- Most Canadians feel immigrants are just as likely to be good Canadian citizens as people who were born here and don't object to them keeping their original citizenship, according to a recent Environics survey. more »
- NDP MPs urged to scrap gun registry in final vote
- Public Safety Minister Vic Toews urges opposition MPs to break party ranks and side with the government during tonight's vote on scrapping the long-gun registry. more »
- Honduras prison fire kills hundreds
- Trapped inmates screamed from their cells as a fire swept through a Honduran prison, killing at least 300 inmates in one of the world's deadliest fires in decades, authorities said Wednesday. more »
- Ocean Ranger sinking still haunts 30 years later
- The violent storm that sank the Ocean Ranger, killing 84 men, still haunts people 30 years after the disaster on the Grand Banks east of Newfoundland. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Online privacy erosion dismays critics
- Government and law enforcement access to people's electronic communications is the norm in dictatorships around the world, but the same intrusion appears to be creeping into North America, say opponents of a new online surveillance bill tabled in the House Tuesday. more »
- Venus slowdown puzzles planetary scientists
- Scientists have detected a sudden and dramatic slowdown in the rotation of Earth's sister planet Venus. more »
- Electric cars can handle Canadian winter
- New data obtained by CBC News suggests the range of electric cars is significantly impaired by extreme cold, but not enough to affect the commuting habits of most Canadians. more »
- Online surveillance bill targets child porn: Toews
- A bill that would give police and intelligence agencies new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications is needed to protect against child pornography, says Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. more »
- McGuinty backs Wi-Fi in schools
- Premier Dalton McGuinty is shrugging off concerns raised by an Ontario teachers' union about Wi-Fi in public schools. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Glacier Discovery Walk: Will the visitor centre enhance the view? Feb. 14, 2012 9:22 AM Environment minister Peter Kent has announced the construction of a new Glacier Discovery Walk and visitor centre on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. It raises the issue of how to balance commercial development in our National Parks against the preservation of the last refuges of wilderness.
Quirks & Quarks
- February 18: Guitar Hero, or Guitar Zero? Feb. 15, 2012 10:53 AM An NYU professor of psychology describes how he was able to learn to play the guitar in midlife in spite of a limited musical aptitude, and what it tells us about how our brains learn.
Latest Features
- Barefoot Newfoundland girl survives icy ordeal
- Immigrants the proudest Canadians, poll suggests
- Legalize pot, say former B.C. attorneys general
- Online privacy erosion dismays critics
- Russians in abusive plane tirade to be sentenced
- Botox injected by unlicensed practitioners
- Honduras prison fire kills hundreds
- Trudeau says sovereignty less of a bogeyman now
- Toronto NBA fans experience 'Lin-sanity'
